Mutual Respect
by Telaka
Summary: A twist in the events to Uncanny XMen 368. Ororo takes a step to save a friend from condeming himself in an act of murder.


Mutual Respect

**((A twist to the events that take place in Uncanny X-Men #368. Don't worry if you have not read it, the short story should make sense anyway.**

**Note that none of the X-Men or any related ideas are mine, and I make no money from this. All rights go to Marvel Comics.))**

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            He had been at it for hours now.  Just one program after another, no breaks, no relief, just hitting one guy and waiting for the other to come up.

_Enemies from the past.  Sabertooth, Genosha guards, sentinels and countless others all falling fast to his rage.  And now him.  This was the one he had warmed himself up for._

_ Magneto._

_The danger room possessed a heavy air about it, thick and unsettling.  The tension was beyond breaking point but still held, lingering for as long as he was there.  The atmosphere was being pushed._

_            He knew she was there, and had been almost since he had started.  She had been ignored however, but she stood there all the same._

_The doorway held little safety, not the best place to stand if you had no intention of protecting yourself.  And she never._

_            He had been tempted a few times now, to reach over and shove her out of the way of the danger.  But the obstacles were ignoring her, just as he did._

_            So he let her be._

_            It came out, hard and fast, volleying an assortment of sharp metallic objects his way, faster almost than one of her lightening bolts._

_He dodged some, reflected others and brushed away the pain of the rest._

_            This was probably as close to Magneto as Charles would allow him, not that he would be stopped when the time came.  _

_            She was watching as hard as he was hitting.  Her patience outstretched most of her teammates, including his, by a mile, so she would stay for as long as played about with his obsession. _

_It was the first time any of them had seen this, the others were too wary of him when he held this mood.  Right now she was counting on the respect he held for her and it seemed to be in play at the time.   He had let her stay at the price of her own safety and that suited her just fine._

_            The atmosphere was growing to a near metaphoric fog of tension, anger and edginess.  It was partly down to her, the powers she possessed coming into their own._

_But also there was a six sense of his that told him maybe he should stop.  It gave him a more rebellious cause to carry on.  By now he of all people should have know to trust his own instincts. _

_            The danger room finally seemed to acknowledge the second presence occupying it, and, as it had been programmed to do, began its run on the other one too.  Something both he and she seemed to have forgotten about.  They had been too busy in their atmospheric war to remember._

_            She had been idly leaning against the back wall of the room, her left shoulder slightly numb from the time that she had patiently spent on it.  She went to shift her weight when a stamped of sharp metallic objects came her way, all with a greedy lust to bury their way into her skin._

_Most only managed to reach where her left shoulder had been seconds before, but a good number of them found what they had desired and bit into her left arm._

_            The tension finally reached its limit as a wave of sparks and electricity danced their way around the vast room, snapping until the thick heavy atmosphere was gone.  Her way of answering to the pain._

_            His was to snarl at the computer as if it had been the machines fault for what had happened and then watch with darting blue eyes as everything disappeared._

_            He went across the room and stood above her, his shadow casting across her crouched body._

_She pulled at the blades like a child at a splinter before he lent down and stopped her._

_            "Wont do you any good darlin', better take it to the medical room."_

_One set of blue eyes met another, engaged in silent conversation.  Her shifted to white as she felt pain both physically and mentally and his downed a look of respect, that mutual respect that both held for each other._

_            "Will you stop now?"_

_He nodded, helping her up._

_He would stop for now, but begged a silent mercy for forgiveness when the time came and she tried to stop him. _

_End_


End file.
